“A fantastical tale with a powerful message” raves SPR. 2018 Purple Dragonfly Book Award First Place winner for Middle Grade fiction - 2018 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Gold Medal Winner for Pre-teen fiction - Mature Issues - 2018 International Book Award Silver Medal Winner Readers' Favorite for Coming of Age 12-year-old Jake has been suppressing his heartbreak over the loss of his mother for the past four years. But his emotions have a way of haunting his dreams and bubbling to the surface when he least expects it. When Jake learns how to take control in his dreams, he becomes a lucid dreamer, and that’s when the battle really heats up. Using his wits to dodge bullies by day and a nefarious kangaroo hopping ever closer by night, Jake learns about loss, bravery, the power of love, and how you cannot fully heal until you face your greatest fear. This uncompromising novel is a magical yet honest exploration of emotional healing after a devastating loss. **The author is donating 100% of the profit from this novel to the Center for Great Apes. " Jake, Lucid Dreamer by David J. Naiman is a charming look at a middle-schooler's struggle to navigate grief and acceptance. With a touch of the surreal, Naiman has woven a fantastical tale with a powerful message about learning to face your demons, traversing the tricky plains of middle school, and how important compassion is in the face of adversity." -- SPR "David J. Naiman is an expert at character development. His characters are lifelike and relatable. Jake's father is extremely convincing as a parent and husband dealing with the loss of a partner. Parents and children would enjoy and profit by reading this book together. When it is difficult to articulate suffering and sorrow, this thought-provoking novel would serve as an honest exploration of emotional healing after an upsetting loss." -- Kris Rondon, Readers' Favorite "Naiman's poignant coming-of-age novel offers a sensitive and honest examination of a child's spiritual and emotional battles." -- The BookLife Prize David J. Naiman is a best-selling independent author of award-winning books for children, teens, and adults including Jake, Lucid Dreamer , first place winner of the Purple Dragonfly Book Award and the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards in pre-teen fiction and Didn't Get Frazzled , humorous medical fiction written under the pen name David Z Hirsch.  He is also a successful physician specializing in internal medicine and an unsuccessful speller specializing in vowels that sound identical to other vowels. He lives with his wife and two children in Maryland. Visit him at davidjnaiman.wordpress.com